Murder at Blood Pledge Castle
by Tetra26
Summary: A malicious killer starts to run rampant around Blood Pledge Castle, his motives unknown. With Shinou missing, and no other easy way to determine the killer, relationships become strained as all evidence points toward a certain person. Character Deaths.
1. Chapter 1

* * *

Murder at Blood Pledge Castle

by Tetra26/Batty Gal

* * *

Summary: A malicious killer starts to run rampant around Blood Pledge Castle, his motives unknown. With Shinou missing, and no other easy way to determine the killer, relationships become strained as all evidence points toward a certain person. Character Deaths.

* * *

Chapter 1: So It Starts

* * *

Torrents of rain poured down outside as three maids sat at a table, casually playing a classic Shin Makoku card game.

"I wish it wouldn't rain so hard," Doria sighed as she played the Kohi card, causing Sangria to groan in defeat.

"Damn, just when I was about to go out!" she exclaimed, pouting as she plucked seven cards from the deck.

"Has anyone seen Effie? She was supposed to play with us tonight! This game would be so much more fun if we could play partners," Lasagna said, playing the Voltaire wild card.

Doria sighed. "I don't have any of that suit. Like I needed anymore cards in my hand!" she said, and plucked one card. "Lucky!" she cried, and played the eighth of Voltaire.

"Come to think about it, I haven't seen her since right before it started to rain."

"Maybe she went to bed already?"

"Who knows?"

Just then, another maid walked in. "Have any of you seen Effie? I gave her an apron that I accidentally ripped and she was supposed to be mending it for me. I've looked all over for her."

"She's not in bed?" asked Lasagna.

"No, and no one has seen her since this afternoon."

"The last I saw her, she was going to get the laundry in because she thought it might rain."

"Same here."

"I wonder where she could possibly be?"

"Oh well, I'll keep looking around," the young maid said with a sigh. The three remaining maids watched as she exited.

"She'll probably show up soon," Doria said.

"Maybe she's spending time with that soldier that she's been talking to a lot lately?" Sangria said, a mischievous glint to her eye. "After all, they were talking earlier."

"Or maybe she' s spending time with His Majesty," Lasagna said, and laughed. "I haven't missed the way he's been looking at her lately."

"Oh my! I wonder if Sir von Bielefeld has noticed?" Doria asked.

"He has! I saw him chewing her out yesterday. She was almost in tears. She would be extremely stupid to even attempt to go for the Maou as long as he's around!"

"I don't think she's even interested in the Maou, but I agree. Lately, if someone even looks at the Maou, it sets him off."

"Lately? Where have you been? He's _always_ been like that!"

"Point taken. Now play a card!"

* * *

After the rain became nothing more than a drizzle, Dakaskos left the barn in search of a bag he lost.

He had went out earlier to gather some herbs for Gisela, but once it started raining quite hard, he had lost them in his haste to get out of the downpour. He hoped that they were where he suspected they were, and that no one had taken his bag.

He walked towards a large fountain on the North side of the Castle, his mind on what Gisela's reaction would be if he didn't come back with them. He rounded a row of hedges, and sighed in relief.

Just as he thought, his bag with the herbs in it was where he suspected he dropped it. He went over beside the fountain to reach down to pick it up, but a slight movement from behind the fountain statue caught his eye.

He walked around to see what it was, his bag temporarily forgotten. As he stared at the mangled form in front of him, bile rose up in the back of his throat, preventing his scream.

The only thing he could do was run.

And he did.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, unable to think properly.

He ran until he bumped into one Günter von Krist, and fell backwards due to colliding with the man. As Günter reached down to help him up, it was only then that he remembered to scream.

* * *

Günter looked down at the screaming man, confused about it all.

Sure, there were plenty of people who screamed when they saw him, but usually not in horror.

At least, not like _that_.

Not even His Majesty.

"Dakaskos, what's wrong?" he asked, noting how the man was now shaking with what appeared to be terror.

The man stopped screaming, but continued to shake and rock himself backwards and forwards.

Günter was alarmed at the sight, and dropped to his knees beside the man, steadying him with his hands. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

The bald man let out a low moan of agony, and pointed towards the North. "Fountain."

"Fountain?"

The traumatized man nodded and said nothing else, and just continued to shake, rock and moan.

Günter heard several footsteps, and watched as several guards and soldiers approached.

"What in the world's going on? I heard someone screaming?" one of the guards said to Günter as they formed a circle around him.

Günter watched as they looked down at the shaking man that he was now holding. "It was him. He ran into me, and started to scream. He pointed that way--" he said, showing them, "--and the only thing he said was 'Fountain.'."

"Fountain," Dakaskos said in a monotonous voice. "Fountain. Blood. Dead."

The other men standing out there looked at him, their faces showing a mixture of confusion and alarm.

Günter pointed at one guard. "You there! Take him to Gisela! The rest of you, come with me!"

* * *

As Günter and the guards rounded the corner towards the fountain that Dakaskos had pointed at, they saw what it was that had made the man scream.

A naked corpse was tied to the fountain with what appeared to be torn bedsheets, its pose mimicking the statue it was bound to in a macabre fashion.

A body; bruised and drenched with rain and diluted blood.

A body; its entrails spilling out unceremoniously where whoever had done this to it had hacked it open.

A body; its face brutally carved up beyond recognition.

It would be a few hours before that body would be identified as belonging to Effie, the maid.

* * *

A man looked down at the amulet he was holding, his hard eyes betraying the smile on his face.

"You'll never get away with this," the face in the amulet said, coldly.

"Of course I will," he said, his voice taunting.

"When I get out of here-"

"You'll _never_ get out of there, at least not in _my_ lifetime. You're stuck there, _almighty King_," the man spat.

"My Daikenja will-"

"-be dealt with, if necessary, Shinou. In the meantime, I'm going to _fully_ enjoy making you watch as I destroy the lives of the people you care about the most."

At that moment, a scream rang through the air. "Looks like my first kill has been discovered!" he said with glee.

He walked over to where he had earlier sat down a metal box with a lock, and gently placed the amulet within it, ignoring the protests he received.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to make my presence known and show how 'horrified' I am at these turn of events," he said with a smirk, and closed the top.

He locked it, and placed it away from prying eyes before sauntering outside to put on his best act of being confounded.

* * *

Author's note: This is different from my usual lighthearted fics. Since I love mystery and suspense, I figured "Why not explore it in KKM?" There will be character deaths and near-deaths – some major, some minor. Also, there are no planned pairings for this fic – but who knows what may crop up. And, unlike my other fics, I'm writing this one as I go along – which means more sporadic updates.


	2. Chapter 2

Murder At Blood Pledge Castle (Chapter 02: The Day After)

by Tetra26/Batty Gal

* * *

Chapter Summary: An initial investigation takes place, an interview is conducted, and Yuuri gets admonished by Anissina for automatically assuming that a woman couldn't have committed such a heinous crime.

* * *

For the rest of that frightful night, and well beyond dawn, several people surrounded the area and searched the premises for the culprit.

There was virtually no evidence at the crime scene. There were no weapons or anything; only the body and the torn fabric used to gag her and bind her to the statue were present. The rain had washed away footprints – and perhaps other vital clues – if there had been any in the first place.

The body had been taken away and placed in the care of Gisela after it had been briefly examined for clues as to who could be guilty of such a horrifying crime. Due to the lack of evidence they found at the scene and on the initial overlook of the body, Gisela's more thorough examination was highly anticipated in the hopes that it would shed some light on the situation.

When news finally hit that the body had been identified as Effie's, there wasn't a dry eye among the maids as they held onto each other and wept over the loss of their friend. Several of the guards, and many of the soldiers, were upset – and no one was heartless enough to tease them for their glassy eyes.

The Maou – who did shed a few tears – spent the night under the watchful eyes of Wolfram, who didn't – but was visibly disturbed by it all the same. Anissina had taken a sleeping and blissfully unaware Greta to her room, where she stayed close to her during the night. Wolfram didn't want her to awaken and have to be explained to; he knew that the girl wouldn't be able to sleep after hearing about it.

Günter, Gwendal, Conrad and several others spent the rest of the night directing the various searches, while Murata and Yozak meticulously went over the area where the body had been found, trying to find more clues.

By noon, news and rumors about the murder had spread into town and started to cause a panic among those that remembered the last time such a horrifying murder had taken place.

* * *

A tired and frustrated Gisela stared down at the body of Effie in front of her. She had spent quite some time studying and restudying every inch of it, taking a closer look at the wounds and trying to find any clues as to who could have possibly done such a thing to it.

It.

She simply hated how she was now thinking about a friend of hers as an it. As if there were never life in her – as if she had never come across her cheery form and instantly felt a little more cheerful herself.

This part was one of the worst things about her job. Not only did she have the task of healing people, she was also often responsible for dealing with them when she couldn't heal them – when they were beyond healing. Beyond life. She especially disliked that it often included determining the cause of death, which in this case wasn't difficult.

This particular job was hard on her, however. Even though she had been to war and had experienced much brutality, it was still different when it was someone you were close to. She was traumatized less by experiencing such things when expected, as opposed to an out-of-the-blue vicious act like this where a beloved friend was tortured and maimed.

And tortured Effie had been.

Though she had ultimately been tied to that statue with torn sheets, apparently she had been bound with rope in another location prior to that – and the bruises and rope burns on her wrists and ankles suggested that she had tried her hardest to get out of them.

The killing blows had been the ones to her abdomen, possibly made by an hatchet or a similar weapon. It had been easy to tell that Effie had already been tied to the statue before receiving them. However, Gisela had also determined that many of the more shallow cuts made to her face and body had been inflicted several hours prior to her death. Imagining the poor girl living through all of that that made Gisela far sicker to her stomach than dealing with the actual body.

She had let out a loud sigh of relief and mentally thanked Shinou when she determined that the assault hadn't also been sexual in nature. It had worried her due to the body being naked. She guiltily acknowledged to herself that it would have been much harder for her and the others to handle if sexual assault had been involved.

Imagining Effie's last moments were taking their toll on Gisela, especially since she was so worn out due to running around without having slept. She wanted nothing more than to go to her room, curl up in bed, and let it all out in a crying session. However, work had to come first to her; emotions just had to wait.

She gave one last pitying glance at the body, and turned to leave the room to finish writing up her report. She knew her priorities for the day. She had to hand in her report to Gwendal; discussing her findings; and check on Dakaskos – who was still traumatized by the matter.

Only after all of those tasks were completed would she allow the tears she had been holding back to finally fall.

* * *

Sangria entered the meeting room that Gwendal had temporarily set up to interview potential witnesses and suspects.

She visibly shrank back due to the grim looks on the faces of Gwendal, Conrad, Günter and the others, and quickly closed the door behind her.

"Have a seat there," Gwendal said, pointing to a lone chair facing the rest of the group.

She obliged to Gwendal's requests, and sat. The others watched as she twitched while awaiting the questions that would be posed to her.

Gwendal cleared his throat, and started. "When was the last time you saw Effie yesterday, Sangria?"

"Shortly after lunch. Around one, maybe?" She glanced over to where both Günter and the Sage quickly started to take notes.

"I see... and did you speak with her at that time?"

"Yes. She asked me where I was rushing to, and I told her that I had forgotten to replace Sir Weller's drapes." She shot an apologetic look to Conrad, but he simply nodded at her to go on.

"And did she say anything to you, in return?"

"Only that she was headed toward Sir von Bielefeld's room to do the same."

"I see," Gwendal said. "How was she acting? Did she seem happy? Upset? What?"

"Well, she seemed nervous."

"Nervous? Why?"

Sangria paused for a moment, and looked as if she were weighing her answer.

"Well?" Gwendal asked.

"I'm not sure," she ultimately said.

Gwendal gave her a lingering look before continuing. "Alright then. Can you tell me where you were at every moment from that point up until the body was discovered last night? Try not to leave anything out."

"You don't think I killed her, do you?" she asked, her face scandalized.

"Of course I don't. I'm just trying to place everyone and establish her and their respective movements during the last hours of her life," Gwendal said.

Sangria nodded nervously, and continued on. "After talking with her, I put up those drapes; took the old ones down and put them in the wash queue; and went to my duties in the western part of the castle until it was time to start cooking dinner."

"What were your duties in the western part of the castle?

"Sir von Krist is considering reusing the old war room, and requested for it to be cleaned. I spent the entire time in there doing so before leaving to cook."

She paused, and looked at Gwendal.

"Go on," he said.

"After we cooked and served you all at five, we cleaned up, and I took a break and played cards with the others for an hour. After I finished with them around eight, I went back to that room to try and get some extra work done before my bedtime. I had been in there for another hour before I heard that scream. By the time I got down there to see what was going on, the body had been discovered."

Sangria's voice wavered at that last part.

"Is there anyone that can account for your locations at all of those times?" Gwendal asked.

"I'm pretty sure that several people saw me going about, but I can't name anyone in particular. But I stayed in that room without leaving it at all times while I was in there, honest!"

"I see," Gwendal said. He frowned harder. "Is there anything, and I mean anything, extra that you can add? Even the slightest detail could help. Did any of the other maids say anything about her to you?"

"Well, Lasagna and Doria both mentioned that the last time they saw her was right before it started to rain. That was while I was working in that room since it was already raining when I left it to help with dinner. And since she had duties other than cooking yesterday, we didn't question it when we didn't see her then."

Gwendal nodded. "Very well. You may leave, and tell the guard to send in Lasagna."

"One more thing," the Sage interrupted, causing all eyes to go to him. "Did Effie have any close friends other than you, Doria and Lasagna? Any one special to her like a lover, perhaps?"

"Well, she was good friends with Gisela and several of the other maids, but that's about it," Sangria said.

She was about to get up, but then visibly brightened. "Oh, yes! I forgot! I think she was seeing one of the soldiers here!"

Several people perked up at the mention of the soldier.

"Do you know his name?"

"I don't know his name, but I could tell he was one of Sir von Bielefeld's by the uniform."

Both Wolfram and the Maou raised their eyebrows at the revelation.

"Could you describe him for us?" Murata asked.

"Let's see," she started. "He's a little taller than Sir von Bielefeld, and his hair is brown," she said.

"That doesn't really narrow things down," Wolfram said. "Half of my squad has brown hair. What color are his eyes? Is there anything distinctive about him?"

"I'm not sure, I've only seen him from a distance. Lasagna or Doria probably knows more since they've seen him more times than I have... Oh yes!" She snapped her fingers. "I did catch a glimpse of them talking yesterday through the window, around three! That was the last time I saw her, not at one! I don't know how that slipped my mind, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, it's enough that you remembered. Well, if you remember anything else, feel free to come tell it to me," Gwendal said. "You are dismissed. Don't forget to tell the guard outside to send in Lasagna..."

"Wait! I have a few more questions," the Sage said just as Sangria motioned to get up. Everyone in the room watched as she slumped back in the chair in defeat.

"Don't worry, it won't take too long. I simply want to run you through it one more time to make sure I didn't miss anything of importance."

* * *

Sangria quickly left the room after the inquisition, relieved that it was over. She hoped to never face such a group of people like that in such a situation ever again.

The atmosphere had been slightly ominous, and some of the questions posed had bothered her.

She mentally kicked herself for mentioning that Effie had seemed nervous, especially in the presence of the person that had made her so.

Wolfram von Bielefeld.

The way he had confronted Effie the day before her death had made her anxious about going around him, period. Sangria hadn't missed how Effie had gone out of her way to avoid both Wolfram and the Maou after that conversation (nor had she missed how the corners of the Maou's mouth had twitched down when she brought it up that Effie had been seeing someone).

Still, she decided not to mention the Wolfram thing yet, and if Gwendal found out about it and confronted her about not bringing it up, she vowed to say she simply forgot about it. She suspected that Doria and Lasagna would do the same considering that she had been eavesdropping in the first place – and she knew the others wouldn't want to get her into trouble for doing so and blabbing to them about it. Wolfram would definitely blow up at them if he found out about it – and that was something she didn't want to deal with anymore than necessary.

Still, as she turned to watch Lasagna enter, she couldn't shake how a certain person had looked at her with such suspicion and silent accusations in his eyes.

* * *

"Well, we've interviewed the maids and various other people, and we still haven't come up with anything other than this mystery soldier that she was dating," Gwendal von Voltaire said, hours after the interview with Sangria. He sleepily rubbed at his temples – far too tired to do much of anything else.

The group that oversaw the interviewing had decided to take a light supper in the meeting room so that they could discuss the case freely amongst themselves. Only the maids, who brought the food in and served them, were present to witness it.

"Well, at least we know one more detail about who he is," Günter said.

"Yes, but they aren't very helpful, though," Wolfram said. "At this moment, all I know is that he has brown hair and eyes, and that he's slightly taller than me. That's roughly thirty of my men."

"We could always have them line up and let the girls identify him," Günter said.

"That might not be a good idea," the Sage said, quickly. "If they fail to point him out, it could potentially make them a target as well, if he's responsible for Effie's death."

"If," Gwendal said. "We're still at 'if'. We have no clue as to who it is. There is no physical evidence that points to any particular person," he said. "I have looked over Gisela's reports, and her findings don't shed any light on the case when it comes to determining the killer."

"If only we had a motive," Yozak said.

"Yeah," Yuuri said. "If we knew why he did it, we might be able to find out who he is."

"What makes you so certain it's a he, Shibuya?" Murata asked.

"Well, surely a woman couldn't have done something like that?" Yuuri said, prompting everyone else in the room to look at him like he had just manifested out of nowhere.

"Your Majesty... you didn't pay attention to my lesson a few month back on Shin Makoku's most notorious killers, did you?" Günter accused, prompting Yuuri to let out a nervous laugh.

"Well..."

"Your Majesty, did you know that three of the most notorious killers known throughout Shin Makoku have been women?" Anissina asked. "In fact, the most notorious serial killer that we've ever had was, in fact, female. Yes, a woman could have done something like that."

The other watched with mild amusement as Yuuri continued to dig himself into a hole that Anissina was all-too-willing to bury him in.

"I don't mean just capable of being so evil, I meant sheer strength as well. Surely a woman couldn't have been strong enough to tie her up there, right?"

"Oh Shinou," Wolfram said, and buried his face into his palm.

Anissina eyeballed him like a lioness did her prey before going in for the kill. "Your Majesty, let me tell you a story of a notorious killer that went running around decades ago."

She gave him a look that dared him to protest or speak up in general, period.

"Back when both Sir von Bielefeld and Sir Weller were still children, there was a series of murders that took place. For five years, the towns surrounding the castle were terrorized by a killer simply known as 'Heartclaimer'."

She paused, and gave him an even more stern look. "Every few weeks a body turned up – one that was hanged from a tree with its heart cut out. In place of said heart, the gaping hole was stuffed with berries.

Yuuri gasped at the gruesomeness of it all. "Who in the world would do something like that?"

"A woman, Your Majesty. A woman."

Everyone watched Yuuri's face change as he realized his error. "I see..."

"Yes, you see," she said, semi-placated for the moment.

"Either way, Anissina's right," Gwendal said, rescuing Yuuri from the hot seat. "We don't know if it's a man or woman at this point. Wolfram?"

"Yes, brother?" Wolfram asked.

"I want you to discreetly poke around and see if you can find out which of your troops the maids are referring to. He may, or may not, be key here."

"I suggest you have the maids discreetly try to identify him as well," the Sage added. "Perhaps by having them practice in an area where they could hide and watch? Ladies, do you think you can do that?"

"Absolutely," the three maids said, simultaneously.

"We'll have to plan this carefully in order to evade suspicion. Wolfram, do you think you could set up a situation like that?" Conrad asked.

"I can work something like that out," Wolfram said. "Just let me know when you want it done."

"I will. This is the only lead that we have right now," Gwendal said. "The physical evidence isn't giving us much to work with at all. Hopefully, when Dakaskos snaps out of his shock, he may have some sort of clue he can give us."

"In the meanwhile, I'm going to take another look at that crime scene to see if I missed anything. It's times like this I wish that I kept a digital camera on me at all times," the Sage said with a sigh.

"If only Shinou were here, we could probably solve this much faster," Yuuri said.

"If Shinou were here, this probably would not have happened," Murata mumbled. "I simply can't understand why, all of a sudden, neither I nor Ulrike can sense him anymore."

"That's just another thing we'll have to eventually solve, but right now our focus is on this heinous crime," Gwendal said, prompting everyone in the room to nod their heads in agreement.

* * *

After everyone present in the meeting exited, four men walked together down the hall.

"I'm sorry that your respective visits with us have been tainted by these events," Murata said.

"It's fine. You can never predict something like this happening."

"That's right."

"Agreed."

Murata sighed. "Well, I'm off to explore the crime scene a little more before it gets dark. Maybe I missed something my first time around."

"Very well. I'll probably see you tomorrow morning," Hube said as he walked off. "I'm going to go be with my family. Nicola is still very upset over the whole thing. She really liked Effie."

"I need to catch up to my nephew and speak to him about a few things," Waltorana said, and followed behind Hube.

The two remaining men watched their retreating backs.

"I think everyone liked Effie, which makes it all the more upsetting. Why in the world would someone kill someone so nice?" Murata asked. "If only I can figure that out."

"I have no doubt that you will. You have the uncanny habit of figuring everything else out."

"Why, I do believe you just complemented me!" Murata said, a smile gracing his face for the first time that day.

"I love how you managed to purposely take my comment the wrong way," Shouri said, in exasperation.

"As always. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do!"

* * *

It was dark.

It was lonely.

For the past few months, that was the main situation that Shinou was in.

Trapped.

Trapped in this wretched amulet, a mere trinket that had the power to encase even the almighty him.

Trapped; unable to do anything about the ongoing events that his captor gleefully bragged about every time he removed him from this annoying box.

If only he could get an assist from Daikenja. He was possibly the only one able to free him from this complexity. However, unless the Sage became aware of his situation, he was stuck here.

Stuck; the vivid and concise warnings he sent to Daikenja and Ulrike failing.

Still, even though he knew it was a long shot against the amulet's phenomenal powers, he had taken to reserving his power for days and then unleashing it – focusing on contacting Daikenja. He could only hope that one day, perhaps, one of his many thoughts would reach him.

* * *

Murata, who was checking out what he suspected were wheelbarrow tracks in the grass near the crime scene, suddenly cried out as he felt a sharp pain shoot through his head.

He crumpled to the ground as his mind ventured into nothingness.

* * *

Author's notes: Oh my, what has happened to Murata? And how trusting they are with this investigation! It's the mindset of "Oh the people I know personally would NEVER do that! Let's let them all be present while I question suspects!". Also, I've decided to not have a romantic pairing this fic. The story is just not right for one, and with all the mistrust that will go on, it's no wonder. Next Chapter: The killer taunts Shinou some more.


End file.
